


touch-tone telephone

by exopoliticians



Category: Muse (Band)
Genre: AU, Fluff, Ghost Hunting, Love Confessions, M/M, Pining, Slow Burn, Swearing, inspired by lemon demon, not too slow i cant handle that, oh yeah btw tom is a little shit in this but i love him, tags/rating updated as fic gets updated, totally “platonic” comforting, would this classify as a lemon demon au then?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-30
Updated: 2019-01-25
Packaged: 2019-09-30 06:49:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 11,140
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17218970
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/exopoliticians/pseuds/exopoliticians
Summary: if i make it through tonighteverybody's gonna hear me outcause i'm the right oneon my touch-tone, touch-tone telephone———local man falls for radio show host. the events that follow may surprise you!





	1. Chapter 1

_“Good evening listeners! You’re listening to Angelfire Radio. I’m your host, Dominic Howard. Now before the show begins, there are a few messages from our sponsors that I’m forced to read again…”_

Dominic read the messages, sounding as bored as he possibly could sound. Matt had been waiting for this all day. Not the ads obviously. No, he was waiting for-

_“Now, listeners, we can begin. By popular demand, today we’ll be talking about aliens and UFO sightings. Maybe we’ll get into some conspiracy theories, who knows? Let’s get started.”_

The little song that signaled the start of the show played, Matt was filled with joy. Finally, _finally_ , his favorite radio show was talking about his favorite topic aside from government conspiracies. He was sat on his couch, legs pulled up to his chest. He had listened to this station for months after finding it on complete accident. Instantly, he was smitten with the host. Dominic knew so much about everything he talked about whether it be cryptids, ghosts, folklore, anything. Matt loved listening to his voice, and often he found himself wanting more.

_“...some people claim to have been abducted by aliens. Well, actually a lot of people have. Personally, I believe supposed sightings to be more believable than...abduction stories. Like, most of them can’t even be backed up, right?”_

“They can be backed up though!” Matt said to the radio.

_“But there are some compelling stories. I’ve got one from a local woman right here…”_

Matt listened intently. After he told the story, Dominic started diving into theories and his personal thoughts about the entire thing.

 _he’s so smart_ , Matt thought. _a fuckin’ genius_

_“So, it’s that time of the night where we allow you to call in to share your own experiences or theories! After that, we’ll cover some older incidents, Area 51, things like that. But if you want to reach us...”_

Matt reached over to the table by his couch and grabbed the receiver of the phone after turning down the radio. He still had one of those old corded ones. He claimed that he liked the style of it, but in actuality, he couldn’t afford a new one. Not that it really mattered, it worked fine.  
He made sure to call at least once a week if not more. He always had something to add on, and in his opinion, his additions were pretty damn good. He punched in the number into the phone.

_ring...ring...ring…_  
_ring...ring...click!_

“It seems we have our first caller of the night!” Dominic said. “Do you happen to be our regular caller or someone else?”

Matt smiled. Dominic always asked that.  
It made Matt feel special.

“You should know by now,” Matt said.

“Matthew! Nice to have you back mate. I had a feeling you’d call in. For anyone who doesn’t know, Matthew is incredibly smart and probably knows a lot more about this stuff than I do.”

Matt’s smile widened. That little comment meant a lot to him, probably a lot more than it should’ve. He brushed back some of his hair and sprawled himself out on his couch.

“Oh shut up, no I don’t—”

_well, maybe he’s right. i do know a lot_

“—but we’re not here to talk about that are we?”

Dominic’s laugh was like music to Matt’s ears. It was quite literally one of his favorite things. “Nah, you’re right. Got a story for us?”

“I do, yeah. So, it was like one in the morning, and I was driving home. And then there was just this bright fucking light and…”

He paused. “I’m allowed to swear on here right?”

“I don’t care,” Dominic said. “Don’t think any kids would be up this late anyway.”

“Alright. So, as I was saying, there was this fucking light…”

Matt went on to explain how after that happened, he didn’t quite remember how even got home. Dominic added his little comments throughout the story, of course. He was a radio host, his job was to entertain. However, Matt dove headfirst into general theories after he was done. He was

“...and like, the government is fucking trying to hide evidence of aliens from us. Like, the entire thing in America with calling a crashed spacecraft a weather balloon, you know? It’s just crazy how they try to pull that shit even though it’s obviously extraterrestrial.”

“Yeah, definitely. Governments try to do that all the time, and...oh, we’ve got another caller on the line, so I’ll have to cut this short—”

Matt was less than pleased, but he knew Dominic had a job to do, and he couldn’t take up all of the call-in time.

“—but it’s been a pleasure talking to you again! Call in soon, your theories are super interesting. It’s a shame you didn’t bring them up before!”

Matt’s face turned the same shade of red as his hair. Dominic actually liked his theories? Thought they were interesting? Well, yeah, he knew they were interesting and all, but they had been mainly laughed at by others. But he knew they were right, and he should’ve known Dominic was smart enough to see that.

“Thank you, and uh, you can expect more calls from me. Definitely.”

“Good. See you later then!”

_click._

Matt hung up the phone and then turned on the radio again. He always listened until the end. He got comfortable and closed his eyes. He didn’t care much for whatever woman was speaking to Dominic. Her story wasn’t all too interesting, and it sounded a bit fabricated really. Who saw tiny grey men anymore? This woman was full of utter bullshit.

_“Well, that certainly is interesting, but are you sure you weren’t just on something when they, uh...visited you? Or just like, drunk?”_

Matt snorted. Classy as ever.  
There was another call, then a small commercial break. In those few minutes, Matt had drifted off to sleep. It was late, and he was exhausted from earlier events he would rather not talk about. However, he fell asleep happily. Before he did, he decided it would be a good week after all.

~~  
_“Angelfire Radio would like to extend a special thanks to our regular caller, Matthew, for providing his insights on tonight’s show. And personally, I have to say he was the highlight of the show tonight. With that being said, listeners, I bid you goodnight. Remember to stay safe, you never know what’s out there.”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> kudos/comments appreciated!!!


	2. Chapter 2

A few days had passed since the whole ‘alien’ discussion Matt and Dominic had. Er, Dom. Dom had said that using ‘Dominic’ was a bit too formal. Matt thought he might consider him a friend. It was possible, really. Matt had called Dom every day to discuss theories and swap stories over the phone.   
He couldn’t have been happier.

Currently, he was having lunch at his place with his friend, Tom Kirk. They had been friends for awhile, and Tom even found Matt his job. He was one of the only people who listened to his new theories whenever he came up with them. Well, at least he thought Tom listened anyways. If not, he was a pretty convincing actor.

“Well, y’see, there’s somethin’ goin’ on in this town,” Matt said between mouthfuls of Chinese food. “I dunno if it’s like, fuckin’ aliens or ghosts or what, but there’s somethin’.”

“Really? Could just be the people. There’s some weird ass people here.”

“No, no, there’s like, fuckin’ energies. Weird energies.”

“Weird energies,” Tom repeated, barely containing his laughter.

Matt jabbed him with his chopsticks with a frown. “You know, psychic energies? They’re all out of wack. I know it.”

Tom just rolled his eyes. Matt knew he was fighting a losing battle at this point. Tom just didn’t understand yet. Whatever, that was a problem for another day. Matt stole some of Tom’s chicken, which earned him a slap on the arm. He snickered but didn’t do it again even though he wanted to.

“Look, all I’m saying is that even if you don’t believe me-”

“I never said that!”

“-someone out there does. And they so happen to run my favorite radio show.”

Tom raised his eyebrows, and Matt frowned.

“What?”

“What’s it called?”

Matt was growing suspicious, but he tried to not show it. He rinsed down his rice with a drink of water. “Angelfire Radio. Why?”

Tom grinned. “I work for that show! I’m the sound guy. Well, one of ‘em at least.”

Matt stared at Tom, mouth hanging open in disbelief. As much as he had mentioned the show on other occasions (even though he never explicitly called it his _favorite_ radio show), Tom never mentioned that he the sound guy. One of them, at least.   
Tom noticed Matt’s staring, the grin never leaving his face.

“What is it?” he asked.

“You work for that show?”

“Yeah, so?”

Matt exhaled slowly. “So, you hear me talk about this show all the time, know how much I like it, and you never told me you worked on it until I mentioned it was my favorite show?”

Tom shrugged. “Didn’t seem like it was important at the time.”

“You said you didn’t know what it was when I brought it up the first time!”

Matt let out an exasperated groan. He could not believe Tom. God, he had even told him about how he felt about Dom once. Well, actually, twice, but he didn’t remember the second time. Blame the alcohol for that one.   
He got up from his chair and smacked Tom on the side of his head as he went to get more water, which warranted a slap on his ass.

“You’re fucking unbelievable,” Matt grumbled.

“It was funny!”

Matt was pouting and he knew it. He was also in a not-so-happy mood, and he was definitely going to let Tom know that. He sat back down and picked at his food. He didn’t make eye contact, focusing more on his food. This tactic usually worked pretty quickly, and he was counting how long it took for Tom to give in.

_...nine...ten…eleven...twelve…_

“Jesus christ Bells, you’re a damn child. I’ll make it up to you somehow if you stop pouting.”

that’s a new record, Matt thought, amused.

“Depends on how you plan on making it up.”

“I’ll introduce you to Dom.”

Matt blinked in surprise. Oh. That would definitely make things up. He still was kind of angry at Tom, but with an offer like this, he couldn’t stay angry.   
Matt’s eyes lit up, and a smile slowly crept across his face, replacing the pout.

“Really?”

“Yeah, he actually mentioned something about wanting to meet you before too.”

~~

The events after lunch weren’t of much importance aside from scheduling the meet-up. Matt carried out his normal routine, and he even tried to go to sleep on time. However, he was too excited to sleep, and ended up staying awake until one in the morning.   
In doing that, he slept through his alarm by about an hour. This caused him to wake up in a slight panic since he only had about an hour to even get to the place he was supposed to meet Dom, which was a good twenty minute walk from where he was. Damn Tom for picking the damn park.  
So Matt really didn’t have any time to think about what he was going to wear. He wanted to be a little nice, but he ended up wearing an old t-shirt, even older jeans, and his beat up sneakers. Not to mention his hair was still a bit of a mess. Today started out just fantastic.

After half jogging to the park, Matt had to take a small breather. He sat down on one of the benches and rested his eyes for a few moments. Even though getting ready was a disaster, it was actually a pretty nice day. The breeze was cool, the sun was shining-

“Matt?”

He recognized that voice anywhere. Quickly, Matt opened his eyes. The man standing before him was unmistakably Dom from his voice alone, but Matt hadn’t anticipated him looking the way he did. Not that he looked bad or anything! No, he was actually quite handsome in Matt’s opinion, but now he was even more smitten with him, which was honestly just great. Even in a simple jacket, shirt, and pants, Dom was quite stunning.   
Matt realized he had been staring and his face turned a soft shade of pink. Hopefully he could find some way to write that off.

“Uh, yeah! Yeah, that’s me. Nice to uh, meet you in person.”

He smiled. Dom smiled back. His heart was beating so damn fast, and it was so damn loud. Hopefully Dom couldn’t hear it or anything.   
Matt cleared his throat.

“You don’t have to stand, you know. There’s plenty of room on the bench.”

god that was so fucking lame, what am i thinking-?

To his relief, Dom had laughed at the comment. He sat down next to Matt. God, he looked good in those aviators.

“Tom told me to look for bright red hair. And seeing as you’re the only one here with bright red hair…”

Dom nudged him lightly.

“...it was pretty easy to figure out who you were.”

Matt giggled out of nervous habit. Speaking of Tom, where was he? He should’ve been here first or at least arrived a bit ago. Matt’s pocket buzzed and he pulled out his old flip phone. He needed a new one soon, this one was falling apart. He knew it was old fashioned, but he just didn’t see the appeal of the new smartphones.  
He had gotten a message from none other than Tom.

**kirk** : I’m not able to make it, you’re on your own. Sorry

Matt shoved the phone back into his pocket. Of course Tom couldn’t make it, how convenient. He glanced at Dom.

“Everything alright?”

Matt nodded. He hadn’t tried to make his annoyance too apparent, but unfortunately he was good at that. He ran his fingers through his hair. That only made it more of a mess, but he didn’t think Dom cared since he hadn’t commented on it.

“Yeah, uh, that was Tom. Says he can’t make it. Didn’t give me any reason though.”

Dom scoffed. “He’s probably busy trying to get a date. At least he said something and didn’t completely ghost us…”

An awkward silence settled over the two of them. Matt wasn’t too sure what to say. It wasn’t easy talking to the guy who you had a giant crush on for about four months despite what some people might say. Matt’s leg had started bouncing on its own accord.

this isn’t hard, this isn’t hard. we’re just gonna talk to him like normal, okay? can’t fuck that one up.   
  
After some more internal monologuing, Matt decided to finally break the silence. “You know, I think there’s something weird happening in this town.”

~~  
Two hours had gone by. It had only felt like minutes to Matt. Talking to Dom in person was so much better than over the phone, he decided. In person, he could see Dom’s smile when he suggested something that was interesting. Matt was enjoying himself thoroughly, and he could only hope Dom was too.

“Okay, okay, Matt,” Dom laughed. “As much as I’d love to hear what you have to say on every documented case of mothman, and trust me, I do wanna hear what you’ve got to say…”

Matt cocked his head to the side like a curious puppy. Had he talked for too long?

“...I just remembered I need to do something important in about an hour, and I don’t wanna be late to it. It’s nothing against you, I just lost track of time..”

Oh, well, at least he wasn’t being annoying. Matt understood what it was like to be busy like that. “No worries, it was lovely talking to you.”

Dom, yet again, smiled. Something was different about this one however, though Matt couldn’t tell what the difference was.

“Yeah, same to you. Um..”

Dom produced a pen from the pocket of his jacket. He first drew on himself to test it worked. He grabbed Matt’s arm and scribbled something on it. It wasn’t until after he was done did Matt realize it was a phone number. Matt looked at it, then at Dom. He was looking quite flustered himself. Fuck, even that was cute.

“That’s my personal number. Feel free to call me whenever, just make sure you leave a message the first time so I know who you are.”

Dom put the pen back into his pocket. He seemed hesitant about leaving. But with a sigh, he got up from the bench.

“I’ll talk to you later then. Cheers.”

Matt couldn’t find the words to reply, just waving. After Dom was a considerable distance away from him, Matt stared down at the numbers his arm. He had Dom’s phone number.   
He had Dom’s phone number.

Matt truly couldn’t believe it was that easy just to get it. His heart was ready to burst from his chest.   
Maybe it was a good thing Tom wasn’t here. Not like he wouldn’t tell him exactly how the entire thing went, of course, but if Tom had shown up, it would’ve just ruined it. No offense to him or anything of course.  
Matt returned home very, very happy.

~~  
 _“Hello listeners, as always this is Angelfire Radio. But, um, before the show starts, I, uh...I’d like to dedicate this episode to my friend Matt. You all know who he is by now, so I won’t waste my time explaining who he is. And no, he’s not dead, don’t worry. I’m also not sure if he’s listening tonight, but since we’re gonna be talking about aliens again tonight, it couldn’t hurt right? It’s his favorite subject, he can fucking talk about it for hours on end. Trust me on that one. He’s an expert. So, uh, with that, let’s get this started…”_


	3. Chapter 3

The day after getting Dom’s personal number, Matt decided it was a good idea to call him. Initially he had planned to call him earlier in the day, but he decided that seven in the morning was too early for most people. He called him around nine after having a quick breakfast. Surely this would be late enough to call someone in the morning. If Dom didn’t pick up, he could always call back after work.

_ring...ring…ring..._   
_click!_

“Hello?” Dom said. He sounded sleepy.

“Hey! It’s Matt.”

Dom yawned rather audibly. “Aw, hey there. Sorry, I woke up like five minutes ago, and I’m still-”  
He yawned again.   
“-fuckin’ tired.”

Matt swore he could hear Dom’s smile through the phone even if he was tired. It made him feel warm inside. He shifted on the couch, trying to make himself more comfortable as he laid there. But in doing that, he nearly fell off and took the entire phone with him. He swore rather loudly as he dropped the receiver on the floor as he caught himself. He picked up the receiver off of the ground and decided not to do that again.

“Holy shit, are you okay? That sounded like it hurt.”

Matt huffed. “Yeah. Almost fell off of my couch, but I’m fine. Stupid fucking corded phone…”

If Dom was trying not to laugh, he was doing a pretty lousy job at it. Eventually he was just having a full on giggle fit. Matt, though slightly embarrassed, didn't think much of it. He knew he would’ve laughed too, so he couldn't really blame him.

“I don’t mean to laugh, but oh my god. You still have a corded phone?”

“Yeah? I like it, it’s cool.”

“Says the man with the flip phone.”

“It works just fine!”

“Yeah, I’m _suuure_.”

They ‘argued’ about the topic for some time. Neither side was winning, and they knew it. The ‘points’ they were making were getting more and more ridiculous as it went on. It evolved into meaningless insults and swearing, but of course it was all in good taste. Matt had burst into giggles several times. He couldn’t remember the last time he had laughed this much or this hard. It had certainly been awhile. It also took him awhile to stop laughing. It honestly wasn't a bad thing. Matt had needed something like this, and he didn't even know it at first.

“Hey, hey, okay, I’ve got a question. You gonna listen?” Dom asked.

“Mhm, yeah, I will. It better be a good one.”

“Do you wanna come on the show tonight? Be a special guest and all?”

Matt grew silent. Oh. That was unexpected. But this was an offer he couldn't refuse! He had longed for this exact opportunity, and yet he was hesitant. Of course, he didn't want to embarrass himself in front of Dom by rambling for too long or by saying something outlandish or-

“You still here?”

Matt cleared his throat. “Yeah, just thinking it over. Give me the address and a time to be there.”

~~

Matt had arrived to the address Dom had given him ten minutes early. It was a sort of run down place on the outside, but it was actually quite nice on the inside, even if it was sort of small. It was sort of like an office building really. There was a little lobby-like area with some couches. Matt decided to sit down, playing sudoku on his phone. He wasn’t very good at it, and before he could get too frustrated, he heard someone walk in. He looked up from his phone and saw it was Dom. Matt furrowed his brows. Dom was in what looked like his pajamas. Now Matt felt a bit overdressed for this even if he was just in jeans and a shirt.

“Hey!” Dom said cheerfully. “Didn’t expect you to be here so early.”

He smiled. Matt smiled back. “Well, I walked here...kinda overestimated how long that’d take.”

Dom sat next to him. “You walked here? Damn, I would’ve just taken the bus.”

“It wasn’t all that bad,” Matt shrugged. “Y’know, this place is kinda close to where I work…”

They talked for a solid twenty minutes. Dom didn’t go on until ten, so they could afford this. Apparently it didn’t take long for him to set up, which was relieving to Matt. Well, and they had to wait for Tom since he was working for another show which ended around ten anyway. Matt was enjoying how easily conversation came to him whenever talking to Dom. It wasn’t too hard to do it with other people, but it was just boring. With Dom, there wasn’t a dull moment.

As soon as Matt had just gotten into an explanation of some theory he had, he heard Tom. He was walking with...Chris? Huh, Matt didn’t know that he worked in this building.   
He and Chris had known each other for, well, almost as long as he had known Tom. He was actually really glad to see him again, it had been a few weeks.

Then Tom kissed Chris on the lips after saying their goodbyes. _Huh_. Okay, that was definitely also not something Matt was expecting, but he really wasn’t questioning anything with Tom at this point. Besides, he was happy for him.   
Dom, however, was visibly shocked.

“You two are _dating_?”

Tom frowned at him. “We’ve been together for like a year now.”

“You’ve been _what_?!”

There really wasn’t time for an explanation because Dom was supposed to be on the air in five minutes, and so the entire ‘setting up’ portion was just mainly Matt listening to the two of them argue. It was actually pretty funny if he was being honest.

“Okay, we’re going live in a minute!” Tom said. “We can finish this argument later. That means you have to shut up, Dom.”

~~

The show went surprisingly well for Matt’s first time on the air. It was more or less just him talking to Dom or the people who called in. Dom had introduced him as “a very special guest”. Matt was beyond flattered. There were the usual alien sightings, abduction stories, hell, even some government conspiracies. It was a good three hours.   
And now it was time to leave. Matt was planning on walking home. He knew these streets like the back of his hand.   
However, Dom wasn’t happy with that.

“No, no, you’re not walking home at one in the morning. C’mon, you can crash at my place, it’s closer.”

And now they were on the way to Dom’s house. Matt was protesting the entire time, but Dom wasn’t listening. It went on like this for ten minutes. Matt had only stopped because they reached Dom’s place and realized that there wasn’t a way out of this. He wasn’t mad about it in the slightest, just kind of nervous. More than kind of, actually. He was very nervous. He couldn’t place why though, so he blamed it on anxiety.

“So, normally, I’d have you sleep on the couch, but it kinda broke,” Dom said as he took off his shoes. “And I don’t want you getting hurt or anything, so we’ll just share a bed.”

Matt knew his face was bright red. He muttered an ‘okay’, hoping that was sufficient. Now, he knew he was being ridiculous. They were both adults, and this was just a one-night thing. It was fine. He would be fine.   
Dom led Matt to the bedroom, which was in a bit of a disaster. Dom kicked some clothes into another pile, then started fixing up his bed.

“Feel free to use some of my clothes by the way, I don’t want you to sleep in jeans.”

Matt forgot how to breathe for a moment.   
_this is just him being nice this is just him being nice_

“Uh, thanks…”

“Everything you need is in the top drawer by the way.”

Matt picked out a Jimi Hendrix t-shirt and some leopard print pajama pants to wear. They were a little too big on him, and wearing them made him seem smaller than he actually was. They were pretty comfortable though. He sat at the edge of Dom’s bed, averting his eyes whenever Dom took off his shirt.

“You don’t just have to sit there,” Dom said. “There’s plenty of room for both of us.”

Matt nodded. He got under the covers, trying to put a decent amount of space between them. It would’ve been weird if he didn’t. He turned onto his side, facing away from Dom. He buried his face into some of the pillows.

“G’night Dom.”

“Night, Matt.”

~~

Matt woke up earlier than he would’ve liked. He knew for a fact he didn’t have work today since he finished up for the week, and he would’ve preferred if his body hadn’t woken him up now. He opened his eyes slowly. He soon then realized that someone was holding him. Dom was holding him. Matt froze. He knew it was a subconscious thing. And fuck, it felt nice to be held for once, but he didn’t want Dom to wake up to this. He would spare him the embarrassment.

Matt tried to maneuver himself out of Dom’s arms, but that just resulted in Dom holding him tighter. Matt was burning up already.   
“Mm, don’t go yet babe,” Dom mumbled. “Too early…”

Dom then proceeded to kiss his neck once. And then he passed out again. The only reason Matt knew he was fully asleep was that he was snoring. Okay, okay, Dom was half asleep and didn’t know what he was doing. Matt couldn’t blame him for that. It would’ve happened to anyone, right?  
Despite feeling like he was on fire, Matt thought he handled the situation pretty well. He (ungracefully) removed himself from Dom’s arms. He took a moment or two to regain what little composure he had at the moment and walked out of the bedroom. Dom probably had some coffee around here somewhere…

~~

Two hours had passed. Matt had busied himself with watching TV and drinking coffee. He didn’t notice Dom had woken up until he got up to get some water. Dom was in the kitchen, starting to make some breakfast.

“You’re still here?” he asked upon seeing Matt. “Half expected you to leave as soon as you woke up.”

Matt rolled his eyes. “I’m not like that. Besides, I couldn’t just leave in your clothes.”

Dom crossed his arms. He studied Matt for a few seconds. Matt was about to ask what was wrong or what he was doing, but Dom cut him off.

“Just keep them. They suit you better anyway.”

Matt blinked. “Wh...what? Really?”

“Yeah, really.”

Matt grinned. He knew he must have looked ridiculous in these pajamas and with how messy his hair was. Even so, he was touched.   
“Thanks. Um…”

He rubbed the back of his neck. “I should probably get going, you know? No offense to you, of course, but um…”

Dom chuckled. “No, no, I get it. It’s fine. But quick question…”  
He leaned against the counter.  
“Do you wanna come on the show again tonight? It was really fun having someone else with me for once.”

Matt nodded. He really, really wished he could express how much it meant to him to be with Dom. He just couldn’t find the right words. One day he hoped he could find them. But he would settle for this right now.

“Yeah, I’d really like that.”

The smile Dom gave him was enough to melt his heart completely. “That’s great! That’s...that’s really great.”

The silence that followed that wasn’t any normal silence. It wasn’t uncomfortable, but it wasn’t exactly comfortable either. It felt like they both had more things they wanted to say, but they didn’t want to say them. Matt spent some time looking at a specific tile on the ground instead of Dom. This was going nowhere.   
He cleared his throat.

“I should go. I’ll uh, see you later…”

“Yeah, I'll see you then.”

~~

_“Hello listeners! We’ve got our very special guest on tonight again!”_

_“Oh shut up, I’m not a special guest anymore-”_

_“Sure you are! Everyone, give a warm welcome to Matt! You’ll probably be hearing a lot more of him this week.”_

_“He’s right. He practically begs me to be on the show, so I hope you’re not sick of me by now.”_

_“Oh fuck off! Asking you nicely doesn’t mean I beg you to be on the show…”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i meant for this to come out sooner but school happened and now i have midterms so !!! updates may be slow this coming week, sorry!


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> my chapters are getting progressively longer as i write this aksldk,,  
> anyways! hopefully the next chapter won’t take too long to write, sorry for the wait!

Matt had become sort of become Angelfire Radio’s unofficial co-host. He appeared on the show at least once a week, and sometimes even more. The listeners liked him well enough, which he wasn’t really expecting, even if Dom had said that he could see why. He had even received fan mail once! Everything else in his life seemed slightly dull by comparison. His actual job wasn’t satisfying anymore. The idea of quitting and being the actual co-host was like a dream come true, but Matt hadn’t worked up the courage to ask Dom. Which, frankly, was a ridiculous thing and he knew it. Dom would almost certainly say yes. But something was stopping Matt from doing it.

At this point, Matt appeared on and off the show for a month or so. In that time, his and Dom’s friendship grew. Even if Matt wasn’t going on the show that night, they saw each other every day, whether it be for lunch or just to hang out. Of course, Matt was worried that his feelings for Dom would surface at any moment and things would get awkward between them. That’s not to say he didn’t try to flirt with Dom, but he was a little too subtle about it. On more than one occasion had he daydreamed about situations that would never happen. It was starting to become a bigger problem than he would like to admit.

On one particular Thursday afternoon, Matt was preparing for a day trip. He and Dom had planned to visit an actual haunted house a few towns over, full of ghosts and even demons. For the sake of the show, of course. Matt, quite honestly, wasn’t too thrilled about it. Sure, it was going to be fun and all, but he was a strong believer in the paranormal. Messing with the wrong types of spirits was something he was looking to avoid. And he really, _really_ didn’t want to contact anything. Though he knew that wasn’t going to happen since Dom had bought a spirit box just for this outing. Fantastic.

Speaking of Dom, he was going to arrive soon. He was the one who was going to do the driving. Matt was nearly prepared whenever he heard a knock at the door. He hastily finished brushing his hair and jogged to the front door. He opened it, smiling widely whenever he set eyes upon Dom.

“Hey! Come in, come in,” Matt said as he stepped out of the way.

“I was planning on it.”

“Don’t be an ass.”

Dom smiled. Matt shut the door once he finally came inside.

“I’m still fucking amazed that you’re so old fashioned,” Dom commented. “I mean, it looks like this place never left the eighties.”

Matt rolled his eyes. He wasn’t about to have this discussion again. There were more important matters at hand. They had gone over the plan before, but Matt thought it was a good idea to run over it again just in case. Dom had sat at the small table in the kitchen, so Matt joined him.

“Alright, so basically, we’ll be on the road for awhile,” Dom explained. “Then we’ll get to the town, get lunch, and hang around until nightfall. Then we’ll head over to the house.”

“And you have all of the equipment?”

“Yeah, don't worry about it. And I'm bringing stuff so we can broadcast while we’re there.”

Matt didn’t like the sound of that. If they were going to broadcast the show from inside of the house, that must’ve meant they were staying in the house until at _least_ one in the morning. He suddenly liked the idea of this trip a lot less now. But he wasn’t going to protest. It was too late to back out now, and Matt had promised to come along too.

He stood up after covering the specifics with Dom. “Lemme grab my bag, then we can get on the road.”

~~

This trip was longer than Matt had anticipated. Whenever Dom had said it would be a long drive, he wasn’t expecting a _two hour_ one. One hour was long enough. But, that was just him complaining. Being on the road with Dom was actually really fun. Unless Dom decided to sing along to a song on the radio. Matt didn’t want to be mean, but Dom was just bad at singing. At least he was having fun with it. That almost made up for him singing off-key for most of “Another One Bites the Dust”. Almost.

Matt was in his own little world after forty minutes. Usually it was just him spacing out, but this time he was continuing a daydream from the other day. It was a pleasant one, though directly inspired by Star Trek. This was what he got for binging half of the second season of The Next Generation. Before he could get to the most interesting part of it, Dom had given him a little shake. Matt blinked. He wasn’t very happy about being brought back to reality, but it must’ve been important if Dom felt the need to snap him out of it.

“Hey, so I hate to interrupt what daydream you were having,” Dom said as he turned onto another street. “But you were humming something, and well, it sounded quite nice from what I heard.”

Matt had forgotten that was a thing he did while daydreaming. “Really? How’d it go?”

As a hobby, Matt wrote songs. He had written quite a few actually. He thought they were all good in their own regard, but they wouldn’t ever be played since he didn’t actually have a band.  
At any rate, Dom (poorly) sang what Matt had been humming. And of course, it was Unintended. Of course it was! Why wouldn’t he be humming the one and only song he had written about Dom? Just his luck.

“So, what is it?” Dom asked.

“It’s...it’s one of my own. It’s, um, called Unintended. It’s kinda dumb…”

“What? No, it can’t be dumb. I know it’s lovely! C’mon, tell me what it is.”

Matt felt a certain heat creep up his neck and into his face. He was never good at taking compliments, and he didn’t think he would ever be good at taking them from Dom.

“It’s a stupid love song I wrote, you know? It’s nothing you’d like.”

“Now I wouldn’t know that unless I heard it, would I?”

Matt stared at his lap for a few seconds. “I mean, I guess so.”

Dom stopped the car at what Matt could only assume was a red light. He hadn’t looked up yet. He spared Dom a glance.

“Would you mind singing it?” Dom asked. “I know you don’t have anything to play, but-”

“No, no, it’s...it’s okay. Um, I’ll have to warm up a little first…”

~~

The warm up took a good ten minutes. Then it took Matt five minutes to actually start singing. Saying that he was nervous was a large understatement. After all, he was singing the literal love song he wrote to the person he wrote it about. Of course, Dom didn’t know that. Dom would never know that. No one would ever know about the song’s true meaning.

Matt finished the song out, and his nervousness increased tenfold. He didn’t know how Dom would react or how he would take it or _anything_. He just wished that he would say something soon.

“That was...amazing.”

Matt felt the relief wash over him. “You think so?”

“Yeah, I do. Your voice is…”

Dom struggled with finding the right words for some time. He sighed, defeated.

“Fuck, I don’t want this to come off the wrong way, but your voice is _beautiful_. I’ve never heard anything quite like it.”

Matt smiled shyly. Dom thought his voice was beautiful? He never really got compliments like that before. If someone did say something about his singing, it was usually just something about it sounding ‘good’. Just good.

  
Needless to say, Matt was touched. “You really mean that?”

“I wouldn’t lie to you, would I?”

“I suppose not.”

Save for the radio, it was quiet for some time. And then, “Thank you, Dom.”  
~~

It was past lunchtime whenever the two of them rolled into the small town. Matt was starving. The granola bars he had packed didn’t do much, so they stopped at a local restaurant to eat. The food was cheap, but it was good. Matt thoroughly enjoyed the chocolate milkshake he ordered. He, however, did not enjoy when Dom laughed at him whenever he got a brain freeze the first time. Nor did he appreciate how he took a video of him in the middle of the second one.

“I’m just saying, you should’ve taken your time while drinking that thing,” Dom said as they walked back to his car.

“It was good!”  
  
“You had like three brain freezes!”

Matt was about to get into the passenger’s side, but Dom grabbed his arm. Matt frowned. “What?”

Dom pulled out his phone. The next thing he saw was some sort of camera app. Or he assumed it was. He had picked up a few things by watching Dom use his cellphone.

“I’ve gotta post something to my Instagram today, almost forgot...you don’t mind being in the picture, do you?”

“Nah, of course not.”

Matt didn’t know what Instagram was or why they needed to take a picture to make a post, but he was more than glad to take a picture with Dom. He could find out was Instagram was later anyway. Dom threw his arm around Matt’s shoulder. Matt threw up a peace sign and smiled. Dom took the picture, then started typing with one hand. Matt looked over at what he was typing and saw that the post was already made. The caption read “Going ghost hunting soon with my friend Matt.”

~~

By ‘soon’, Dom really meant five _fucking_ hours, insisting that going to the house at nighttime would mean there would be more activity. And they had to wait to broadcast anyways, but that would happen after most of the ghost hunting was done. Dom had rented a motel room, but it was kind of shitty. Matt knew they should’ve left later. Dom was taking a nap on his bed, so Matt was bored. And whenever he got bored, he got restless. This led to him leaving to explore for a bit. Which meant that he would be out for a good two hours, if not more.  
After his little trip, which took three hours, he returned back to the motel with a new acoustic guitar. It was decently priced and sounded nice, so of course he bought it on impulse.

Matt walked into the room after buying a bottle of Dr. Pepper from the vending machine. Dom was laying on his bed still, but he was typing something on his phone. He set it down when he saw Matt. He glanced at the case the guitar was in.

“What’s that?” he asked, frowning.

“A Dr. Pepper.”

Dom glared at him. “You know what I mean, smartass.”

Matt shrugged and set the guitar down near his bag. “Got bored, went exploring, and the music shop in town had these really nice acoustics. So, y’know, I bought one.”

“What are you gonna do, serenade the ghosts?”

Matt rolled his eyes. “Hey, speaking of ghosts, are we ever gonna fucking leave? I’m getting antsy.”

Dom sighed. “I mean, we still have like two hours until the sun sets…”

“We can go out to dinner before?”

“You know what? We can.”

Dom got off of his bed and grabbed his keys. Matt grabbed his bag and slung it over his shoulder. He also picked up his guitar again. Maybe he would serenade the ghosts after all. Dom was grinning, clearly excited. It was kind of cute actually.

“Let’s rock and roll!”

~~

Dinner came and went. Now they had arrived at the old, abandoned house they would be spending most of the night in. Matt knew he had agreed to this and all, but now he wasn’t so sure about this now. Dom was ecstatic about this though, which made him feel a little better about the whole thing. The equipment Dom had brought was typical ghost hunting stuff. They had a spirit box, EMF reader, and a digital thermometer. Dom would be recording the entire thing and using the EMF reader, which basically left Matt in charge of talking to the spirits.

The first half hour or so was just setting everything up. Dom made sure to leave all of the stuff for broadcasting in a safe place in the living room. Matt tested everything out to see if it would work. After all of that, it was time to get down to business.

“Are you recording?” Matt asked.

“Yeah, yeah. Start talking.”

“Alright, so uh...wait, how many people are gonna see this?”

“Just go! It doesn’t matter.”

“Christ, okay…”

Matt went on an explanation of the location that probably lasted a little too long for the sake of the footage. He just liked to he thorough. He explained what the equipment was too just because he felt it necessary.

“Alright, so, in this particular house, there’s a lot of active spots. Namely the master bedroom, so we’re starting there obviously. Let’s go.”

They chatted as they made their way down the hallway. But as soon as Matt stepped into the bedroom, a chill ran up his spine. He stopped dead in his tracks. This was not good. The EMF reader was going off, so that meant that something was with them. Matt was freaked out to say the least.

“You okay?” Dom asked, walking in front of him. The EMF reader jumped.

“I’m fine, I think. Let’s just…”

He switched on the spirit box. He really fucking hated the noise it made. Dom jumped, which made Matt giggle. Finally, something to relieve the tension.

“You need to warn me before you turn that on!”

“Sorry, sorry.”

Matt cleared his throat. Okay, here goes nothing. “Um, if there is anyone here right now, could you say something? I’ve got this box you can talk through!”

_please don’t say anything please don’t say anything please don’t say anythingt-_

Nothing happened. The spirit box continued to make its garbled noises.  
“Turn up the frequency,” Dom suggested.

Matt didn’t want to, but he did. He counted to ten to prepare himself for what may happen. Truth be told, he was kind of panicking now. Well, ‘kind of panicking’ really meant ‘definitely panicking’.

“Okay, so let’s try something else, huh? Can whatever is in this house say ‘Matthew Bellamy’-?”

“Matt, what the fuck are you doing?”

Matt shushed him. “Or, maybe just Matt? Hell, you could say my friend’s name if you’d prefer, it’s-”

_“ma...tth...ew…”_

Oh fuck. Oh _fuck_. No, that couldn’t have been right. The spirit box couldn’t have said his name.

“What was that?” Matt asked. His voice cracked. There went his plan to not let Dom know he was kind of dying.

_“matt...”_

“Okay, okay, that’s enough, turn it off Matt.”

Matt didn’t move. He couldn’t. His fear of actually coming into contact with a ghost had come true. It wasn’t until Dom took the spirit box out of his hands that he even thought about moving. Dom turned the damn thing off and basically dragged Matt out of the house, forgetting all about the equipment. He made him sit on the steps outside and grasped his hands. Matt didn’t know that they were shaking until Dom steadied them.  
The only thing that illuminated the area was the porch light.

“Matt? Matt, look at me.”

Matt met his eyes. “What?”

“We don’t have to stay if you can’t handle it.”

Matt shook his head. He didn’t want to leave now. He would feel horrible if the reason they couldn’t stay was because he was too scared. He wanted to do this for Dom no matter how he felt.

“N…no, I’ll be fine,” he mumbled. “It just kinda freaked me out, y’know? Wasn’t expecting to hear my name twice.”

“Are you sure you can do this?”

“Y’know, maybe I should wait for a few minutes.”

Dom smiled. “Good idea. I’m not gonna leave you, okay?”

“Okay…”

He sat beside Matt, and instinctively, Matt leaned into him. He was searching for some sort of comfort, and thankfully Dom understood. He even put his arm around his shoulders. The gesture made Matt feel safe. Dom made him feel safe.  
More than a few minutes had passed, but it seemed that neither of them cared. Dom had given up his jacket since Matt had gotten cold. Matt appreciated it more than he could say. He had to admit, even if this was just Dom comforting him, it just felt really, really nice.

But eventually, the silence was broken.

“Think you’re good now?” Dom asked softly.

Matt shrugged. He didn’t want to move, but he was more or less fine. “Yeah, probably.”

“Do you want me to do the spirit box this time and have you record?”

“Mhm. I think that’d save us the trouble of doing this again.”

Dom pushed against him a little. “You should grab your guitar. I’m sure whatever spirits that tried to talk to you will enjoy it.”

Matt smiled. “Fuck off.”

~~

_“So, today on a special edition of Angelfire Radio, we’re actually in a real life haunted house! Now, you can’t call in this time around, but Matt and I will be reporting our findings.”_

_“Yeah, and Dom’s convinced me to play a song beforehand since I brought my guitar with me.”_

_“The one he bought today, that is.”_

_“Do you want me to play or not?”_

_“Yeah, I do, but that doesn’t change the fact-”_

_”Dominic.”_

_”Fine, fine, go ahead.”_

_“Thank you. So, uh, hope you all like love songs...”_


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for the wait! school had been kicking my ass shdjd  
> also i projected onto matt a lot in this chapter oops.

Three months had passed since Matt and Dom explored the haunted house. Three _months_. Matt could barely believe it, it certainly didn't feel that long. In those three months, he had quit his old job to be the full time co-host of Angelfire Radio. He also bought a smartphone since his flip phone broke, which turned out to be a better thing than he first realized. He had even dyed his hair blue, though that was mostly out of impulse. But he liked how it looked on him. Now, he was happier than he ever was before, more optimistic. Nothing could take that away from him.

Today he was helping Chris officially move into Tom’s place. It was the least he could do for him. And it gave him an excuse to hang out with him, which was something he had been meaning to do for a little while now. He knew he needed to see Chris more often, but he just hadn’t had the time.  
Oh well. Chris was more than happy to have Matt around, and Matt was more than happy to be there.

The whole process took a few hours, so Chris invited Matt to stay for some food. He was a pretty damn good cook, Matt had to admit that. He was also a better listener than most people. Chris always seemed to listen to Matt ramble. Matt supposed that was another reason he liked him so much.  
Chris had asked him how he liked working with Dom. It started out harmlessly enough, but now Matt was going off on a tangent like always. And this time, it was about Dom.

“...and like, I really, really like him. I’ve always liked him, you know? Ever since I started listening to his show…”

“Matt-”

“And like, I mean, I haven’t felt like this about someone in awhile. Been a few years. And, y’know, it’s nice but...I dunno if he feels the same. If he doesn’t, that’s fine, I just-”

“Matt, mate, I asked you about work.”

Matt frowned. Then a sense of dread filled him. Oh god. He had just shared exactly how he felt about Dom to Chris. And he wasn’t even _subtle_ about it.  
_shitshitshitshit_.

“Uh, yeah, yeah,” he said with an awkward cough. He hoped he could play this off. “I’m just saying it’s nice working with him, y’know?”

Chris hummed quietly. “Are you sure? It sounds like you have quite the crush on Dom.”

A nervous bubble of laughter escaped from Matt. That certainly didn’t make him seem more suspicious. For good measure, he laughed for a good few seconds longer than he needed to. Chris would be none the wiser.  
Well, at least he kept telling himself that to make himself feel better.

“What? Me having a crush on Dom?” Matt scoffed. “I don’t know where you got that idea from.”

“You literally talked about him for five minutes. Talking about how amazing he is, how much he means to you…”

“So? I can appreciate my _friends_.”  
The extra emphasis on ‘friends’ definitely did not help his case at all.

Chris sighed. “I talk about Thomas like that. There’s nothing ‘friendly’ about it.”

Matt knew he couldn’t win this. He huffed. “Fine. Maybe I do have a little bit of a crush on him. You’d better not fucking say anything about it.”

Tom, apparently, had walked into the dining room at that exact moment. Matt only knew he had showed up because Chris started laughing, presumably at Tom's face, which Tom responded to with a “Are you fucking kidding me?”  
Needless to say, Matt was more than confused.

Chris looked like he was having the time of his life. “I told you! You owe me so fucking much.”

“Chris, I love you, but you’re not getting shit.”

“You can’t call off the bet now that I’ve won it!”

Matt cleared his throat. He didn’t want this to turn into an argument. “Uh, hey, guys? What bet?”

Tom and Chris shared a look. Matt couldn’t begin to wonder what it meant. Sometimes he swore those two had their own language. He wished he could understand it.

“Well,” Tom started. “Chris and I were betting on whether you or Dom would say something about liking the other first. And obviously I lost…”

Matt opened his mouth, but then closed it. And then he did it again, and again, which made it look like he was a fish out of water. Chris and Tom shared another look. Matt really wished they would stop doing that.

“You _what_?” was all Matt could muster.

“Well, you know, it was bound to happen,” Chris shrugged. “I thought you’d say something about Dom earlier.”

“I’m surprised Dom hasn’t outright said anything yet,” Tom said as he sat beside Chris. “Honestly, with the way he goes on and on about you…”

Matt felt dizzy. This was all a little overwhelming for him. Chris took notice of this almost immediately, Matt could see the concern on his face. Chris was such a _dad_ sometimes.

“You alright?” he asked.

“I, um…”  
Matt cleared his throat. “Dom talks about me?”

Tom nodded. “Yeah, all the time. He goes on and on about how brilliant you are. It’s really endearing.” He paused. “Actually, I used to talk about Chris like that before we started dating.”

“Used to? I’m offended,” Chris said, not sounding offended at all. “Am I not brilliant anymore?”

“You know what I mean.”

While Chris and Tom were doing their thing, Matt was...well, Matt was still processing everything. He couldn’t wrap his head around the fact that Dom actually liked him back. He knew that Chris and Tom wouldn’t lie to him about this. He was ecstatic. More than ecstatic. But...also a bit scared. But excited. This was a lot.  
It was then he knew he needed to tell Dom about how he felt. He had waited for far too long to do this.

“I’m going to do it,” he announced. “I’m going to ask him out.”

Chris grinned. “Now?”

“No, no, I’ll do it over dinner. We’ll eat before the show…”

Matt started muttering to himself as he tried to formulate a plan. He was good at making plans, though they didn’t always go as intended. However, he was going to make sure this one worked out. It had to.

“I’m gonna go now,” Matt said after he texted Dom. “And, Chris, you’re welcome.”

~~

Matt was jittery with nerves. This dinner had to go well. He needed it to go well. He had texted Dom to meet up with him at the restaurant at eight, and like always, Matt arrived early. At least he could secure a seat. The restaurant would start to get busier soon.  
And now Matt waited. He was texting Dom for the most part, but ten minutes seemed far too long. Though, in that time he had managed to calm most of his anxieties.

He was so engrossed in some mobile game that he didn't even see Dom come in at first. Matt happened to glance up just as he was about to reach the table. Immediately, all of the butterflies in his stomach came back. Okay, maybe this would be harder than Matt had anticipated.

“Hey,” Dom said, a smile gracing his features.

Oh, Matt was fucked. So totally fucked. How could he get to the end of the dinner whenever one word and a smile made him weak? This was going to be impossible.

“Hi. I, uh…”

Dom had sat across from him. He had also put a hand on Matt’s knee, which surprised him. Though, Dom only did that whenever Matt was bouncing his leg. He honestly didn't know he was doing it.

“What's wrong?” Dom asked.

Matt didn't reply, which in hindsight was a bad idea. Now Dom was more worried than before, he just knew it. Dom reached out and held one of Matt’s hands. Matt’s heart skipped a beat, which he immediately felt guilty about. He knew Dom was just trying to calm him down even if Matt really wasn't having too much anxiety.

“Matthew, I can't help you if you don't tell me what's wrong.”

Matt sighed. “It's just...there's a lot of people here. Kinda messing with me.”

He wasn't lying. As he had been waiting for Dom, a lot more people had come in. More than he had anticipated really. And he had forgotten his headphones on top of that. Though he would be fine, he knew he would be. He had Dom. He was sure fucking lucky that he was so understanding.

“Want me to order for you?” Dom asked.

“If you wouldn't mind.”

“I never do.”

~~

Half an hour in, and Matt had made absolutely no progress on his plan. Every time he had planned to mention something, something else always happened. The first time, the waitress had come to take their orders and the second time, the food was brought out. This was the absolute worst. Well, that was an exaggeration. It wasn't exactly the absolute worst. He was with Dom after all.

It was time for attempt three. They had just finished dinner, and they were waiting for the check. Matt had worked up enough courage to finally say something again. God, he couldn't mess this up. That just wasn't an option. He cleared his throat.

“Dom, uh…”

Dom looked up from his phone. “Yeah?”

Matt had started to bounce his leg again. “Can I ask you something?”

Before Dom could answer, the check had arrived. Great. Just great. Matt was thinking this entire thing was fucking pointless. He was just going to give up. It wasn't worth it. Dom thanked the waitress, then turned his attention back to Matt.

“Matt, hey, you can ask me the thing now.”

Matt shook his head. “It doesn't matter. Forget I said anything.”

Dom sighed. “Matthew, c’mon, don't be like that.”

“Just...just forget it, okay? It's not important.”

“If you say so,” Dom muttered.

And just like that, Matt’s night was ruined. It was quite pathetic, in his mind, that one little thing could ruin everything. He wasn't in the mood to go on air later. This was just great. Just fantastic! Now he would never get the chance to ask Dom out, and he would be miserable for the rest to his life.

Matt was being dramatic, but with everything going on, it was hard not to be. Whatever. He didn't deserve Dom anyway.

“I'll pay,” Dom said, breaking the silence between them. “And then we can go.”

Matt nodded. He just wanted this night to end already.

~~

Dom had decided that they should just go back to his place for awhile. They still had a couple hours before they had to arrive anyway. The walk was mostly silent. Dom had tried to start conversation with Matt a few times, but Matt only replied with the bare minimum. He assumed Dom had just given up. It wouldn't be all too surprising. A lot of people gave up with him after awhile.

God. He should really stop thinking that way, even if he did feel utterly pathetic.

No other attempt at conversation had happened until they actually got to Dom’s place. Matt had been thinking things over, and he decided that he should just get over himself and ask out Dom. There wasn't a point in acting like this anymore, it wasn't fun for either party. He could do this.

“What are you thinking about?” Dom asked, attempting to find his keys. “You've got that look on your face again.”

Apparently he had been thinking too much. He didn't even know he made a face while thinking. Well, Dom probably had mentioned something about it before, but he just didn't remember. That tended to happen quite a lot.

_deep breaths. you can do this. it'll be fine! just remember what tom and chris said. he likes you back, so this is gonna go just fine._

“There's...there's something I want to tell you.”

_alright! that's a good start. hopefully it'll stay like this..._

Dom stopped looking for his keys and faced Matt. “Is it the thing you were gonna ask me about?”

“Yeah. Yeah, um…”

All of the plans he had about this were thrown out the window. Matt didn't think the thing he practiced would suffice anyway. His heart was racing already, and he hadn't even fucking said anything yet. He needed to get it under control.

_cmon, just fucking do it. it's only been how long now? he likes you back. just ask him out._

Fuck it, here goes nothing. “Dominic, I think, no...no I know I'm in love with you. Ever since I've listened to your show for the first time. I...I fell in love with your entire personality, your voice…”

Matt was crying already. Now, he didn't want to be crying. He didn't even plan to start crying. all of his pent up feelings just pushed their way to the surface.

h

With a shaky voice, he continued, “And...and _fuck_ , do you know how hard it was not to say anything up until now? I...I dunno, maybe I was being dumb, but I was scared. Scared that I might be rejected, y’know? Just…”

_i fucked it up, goddammit, fuck..._

He rubbed his eyes in a futile attempt to stop crying. “This isn't the way I wanted to say this. ‘m sorry.”

Dom was silent. Despite Matt knowing that he felt the same way, his brain was already jumping to conclusions.

_he hates you now he fucking hates you, you fucked this up and you'll never be able to recover from this and-_

Dom reached out and cupped Matt’s face. Matt forced himself to breathe normally. Dom didn't hate him. Why would he even think that?

“You really mean that, don't you?”

Matt nodded. Dom wiped away some of the tears on his face. Such a simple gesture, and yet it was so sweet. He didn't know how Dom could be so gentle after Matt just word vomited, but he definitely appreciated it.

“I just poured out my entire heart to you, idiot,” Matt said, a nervous laugh escaping him. “Of course I mean it.”

Dom smiled. Oh, that smile. Matt knew that one was reserved just for him. It always was. Dom never smiled at anyone else that way.  
Matt then realized that Chris and Tom really did mean Dom was in love with him. He didn't really grasp that until now. All of the times Dom had made him laugh, comforted him, supported him through everything...Matt now knew he had done it out of love.

_he does love me, oh my god he fucking loves me_

“Well, if that's the case,” Dom murmured. “Then…”  
He planted a kiss on Matt’s forehead.  
“I mean it when I say, ‘I love you too’.”

Matt had never been happier in his life. He honestly felt like he might pass out from how excited he was. He managed to keep it under control though. Well, more or less. He was really good at going from a very negative emotion to a very positive one.

“Does...does that mean we’re going out now?” Matt asked, eyes wide. “Like...like does it mean we’re boyfriends now?”

“I would hope it did. 'Cause I...I, uh, feel the exact same way.”

Now Dom was being all shy. Matt found it endearing. To see Dom, who was usually pretty confident, act like this was something else entirely.

“You do?”

“Yeah,” Dom replied. “I, um, was gonna actually ask you out soon. I just didn't know when I'd get around to it…”

Dom traced over Matt’s jaw with his thumb. Was he trying to kill Matt? He wasn't opposed to it, no, but it just felt so intimate. Matt loved it. More importantly, he loved Dom and everything about him.

_i'm so fucking lucky, he thought. i have to be the luckiest person in the fucking world. i don't deserve him at all_

“We're both pretty fucking useless, huh?”

Dom snorted. “Yeah, guess we are.”

They stood there, just like that, for a few more minutes. Matt was still trying to comprehend that he was, in fact, now officially dating Dom. God, it was almost too much. Dom, the radio show host he had fallen in love with by his voice alone, his unintended, his best friend, was now his boyfriend.

Matt wouldn't want it any other way.

Matt cleared his throat. Might as well ask another question that was on his mind. “Does that mean we can go out on dates now?”

Dom giggled. It was so fucking cute whenever he did that. “I would hope I could go on a date with my boyfriend.”

_he called me his boyfriend oh my god oh my god, i'm his boyfriend! this is real! this isn't a dream!_

Matt was blushing and it wasn't even subtle. Dom saw this and promptly kissed both of Matt’s cheeks. That only made his face redder.

“No, stop it!” he laughed. “You're not helping!”

That only spurred Dom on more. Matt was promptly kissed all over his face, and he could do nothing to stop it. Though, he wasn't really trying to stop it. If anything, he wanted more of it. But eventually, Matt pushed Dom back a little.

“Before you started _attacking_ me, I was going to ask you if you'd want to go out to dinner. For, y’know, a real date…”

Dom kissed his forehead one more time, then said, “I’d love to.”

~~

_”Good evening listeners, tonight I have-”_

_“Dominic shut the fuck up.”_

  
_“-a very special guest with me tonight-”_

  
_“I literally come on here every night!”_

  
_“-and, really, you'll love him-”_

  
_“They already do!”_

  
_“-so, I will introduce to you my boyfriend-”_

  
_“Oh my god, Dom.”_

  
_“-and wonderful co-host, Matt Bellamy.”_

  
_“I fucking hate you so much. You're an insufferable bastard.”_

  
_“You certainly weren't thinking that whenever I was kissing your handsome face earlier, were you?”_

  
_“Oh, fuck off.”_

  
_“You love me.”_

  
_“Yeah, yeah, I do.”_

  
_“And I love you.”_

  
_“I know you do…”_

  
_“Well, since I'm getting glares from my sound technician, I think we should get started…”_

**Author's Note:**

> kudos/comments appreciated!!  
> 


End file.
